How much of Newtie's Contract With America was actually fulfilled?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

I saw a LTTE in the paper this morning refering to it like it was some big success (and the writer hoped Newt would declare his candidacy) but I thought it wound up being mostly empty promises.

[whistle]

1. Tax cuts for the rich, strong military budget spending, continuous war

....and making the country ready for fascism. That was the Newt Gingrich legacy!

[gatorboy]

2. Hmmmm. Well let's check the repug platform for 2000

From the Republican Party Platform at the 2000 convention:

• Trust, pride, and respect: we pledge to restore these qualities to the way Americans view their government. It is the most important of tasks and reflects the
overwhelming desire of our citizens for fundamental change in official Washington.

• "The arrogance, inconsistency, and unreliability of the administration's diplomacy have undermined American alliances, alienated friends, and emboldened
our adversaries."

• "Nor should the intelligence community be made the scapegoat for political misjudgments. A Republican administration working with the Congress will
respect the needs and quiet sacrifices of these public servants as it strengthens America's intelligence and counter-intelligence capabilities and reorients
them toward the dangers of the future."

• "The current administration has casually sent American armed forces on dozens of missions without clear goals, realizable objectives, favorable rules of
engagement, or defined exit strategies. Over the past seven years, a shrunken American military has been run ragged by a deployment tempo that has eroded
its military readiness. Many units have seen their operational requirements increased four-fold, wearing out both people and equipment."

• "The rule of law, the very foundation for a free society, has been under assault, not only by criminals from the ground up, but also from the top down.
An administration that lives by evasion, coverup, stonewalling, and duplicity has given us a totally discredited Department of Justice."

• "Sending our military on vague, aimless, and endless missions rapidly saps morale. Even the highest morale is eventually undermined by back-to-back
deployments, poor pay, shortages of spare parts and equipment, inadequate training, and rapidly declining readiness."

• Today, gas prices have skyrocketed, and oil imports are at all-time highs....By any reasonable standard, the Department of Energy has utterly failed in its
mission to safeguard America’s energy security.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/republican/features/platform.00/



Any of this sound familiar?

[Peace Patriot]

4. A person with ambitions to a career in comedy could make a mint just reading this stuff.

Somebody ought to send this to Stephen Colbert. He should read it on the air.

But why did you unbold the one about our intelligence agencies? That is the best one of all (among strong candidates)!

• "Nor should the intelligence community be made the scapegoat for political misjudgments. A Republican administration working with the Congress will
respect the needs and quiet sacrifices of these public servants as it strengthens America's intelligence and counter-intelligence capabilities and reorients
them toward the dangers of the future."

........like, um, WMD counter-proliferation networks and the covert CIA agents and their deep cover foreign contacts whose "needs and quiet sacrifices" were really respected by the Bush Junta, when they outed them all!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :wow: :wow: :wow: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[GreenTea]

3. The fucking republicans "Contract with America" stated immediate term limits

for congress (because the democrats were in control) Not a word about term limits have ever been mentioned again by the fucking republican congress for the past twelve years...

The bullshit "Contract with America" was a gimmick the republicans used in an off year election after they weakened Clinton first two years with lying attacks about Whitewater, Clinton promoting universal health-care, and so make other bullshit accusation designed to weaken Clinton through their corporate republican media and the republicans succeeded.

Nothing in the republicans "Contract with America" was ever done or completed...yet you heard nothing from the corporate media about it...the same media owned and controlled by the republicans.

[ComerPerro]

5. that's why it was so successful. They told really big lies and never had to follow through

[Peace Patriot]

6. If you're going to spell out the word "republican," change the "a" to an "o."

It's much more accurate.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. They also called for limits on committee memberships.

[ObamaNationYes]

14. Actually all measures eventually passed -

Clinton vetoed some things the first time but later signed...

[newyawker99]

15. Hi ObamaNationYes!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[benddem]

8. Don't forget term limits

that was one of the biggies. I once wrote a LTE saying in Newt's case I supported them. He did limit his terms but not soon enough.

[Dr.Phool]

9. Noots "Contract on America"

It worked.

We're pretty much dead meat now. If our leadership was inclined to straighten out this whole mess, it will take at least a generation. Maybe two.

[tritsofme]

10. IIRC every piece of the agenda got a vote in the House

Most of it passed, where it then either died in the Senate or met Clinton's veto pen.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

12. But some of it seemed to go through a morphing process after >

the senate or clinton stopped it the first time. Points from the contract resurfaced as parts of other bills or were watered down. That's why it seems difficult to gauge how much of it ultimately went through.

[Lil Missy]

11. Did any of that ever move to the Senate? I thought it was all smoke and mirrors.

but I wasn't really paying much attention back then. Other than I instictively knew he was all huff and no puff.

[Bronyraurus]

13. All measures passed except

One of them was declared unconstitutional (line item veto), and one of them (constitutional amendment to impose term limits) failed to pass.